Food for happiness

[1]

Aditya Bal, who didn’t step into the glamour industry with the idea of hosting a cookery show, has now dreams of having his own restaurant and conducting cooking classes. With the upcoming launch of his debut book The Chak Le India, a cookbook, which is inspired by his travels to different regions of India through his cookery show Chak Le India on NDTV, Aditya says that he didn’t act on this latent passion for cooking that he had in him for all these years.

“The journey with Chak Le India has been incredible. I didn’t imagine that hosting a cookery show would eventually end up being a way of earning a livelihood. I’m just grateful that I got a chance to pursue something so exciting and enriching,” says Aditya.
Aditya’s wanderlust for local and most celebrated cuisines from across India took him to the bustling towns of Punjab, the cultural hub of Bengal, Goa — his most favourite food destination and several others. The result was Amritsari Paneer Bhurji, Kosha Mangsho, Goan Prawn and Mango Ambotik, Malabari Prawn curry and Moru Sambhar, amongst many other mouthwatering creations. A foodie’s delight, the recipes in this book, spanning meat, chicken, fish and seafood, and vegetarian dishes as well as an array of snacks and sweets are not only simple to try but also promise a complete and delectable feast celebrating what is wonderfully Indian.
For someone who grew up in idyllic Kashmir, watching his maternal grandmother rustle up delicious meals, the book by Aditya offers a new slice of India to its readers. “The book is more like an extension of the show in the written format. It certainly offers the variety that the show des, but here we’ve streamlined it with some selected recipes from different parts of the country too,” he says.
Aditya, who took to modelling and then had a tryst with Bollywood, says that modeling made him realise that he wanted something else from life. His not-so-great run in Bollywood did depress him for a while, but only until long till he discovered his love for cooking through Chak Le India. “I’m glad that Bollywood didn’t work out or else i wouldn’t have known that I wanted this. I agree I didn’t make some of the smartest choices and I was desperate for a big change in life. I’m quite happy today that cooking happened to me. Today I feel like I have control over my destiny. It’s like a natural progression of myself,” says Aditya.